The new physical symbols of prestige in the modern corporate office

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With open office spaces and more people working from home, what physical signs denote someone’s higher status level at the office? Here are a few markers:

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Without the corner office, status is conveyed in new ways. No matter the setup, “human beings will still find a way of creating hierarchy,” Lenny Beaudoin, CBRE’s global head of workplace design, explained. Bosses might have more computer monitors, bigger desks, or even just a permanent spot rather than a rotating one, Matthew Davis, a business professor at Leeds University Business School, told me. Power also manifests intangibly—for instance, only a select few might be able to not check Slack or come and go from the office without explanation. It’s the same benefit of having a far-flung corner office, re-created digitally: You know you’re important if you can escape surveillance.

And even if they’re not in the corner, a lot of executives do still have offices. Those have largely slimmed down, but many are connected to conference rooms or other collaborative spaces, such as broadcast rooms in finance firms, recording studios at media companies, and labs in the life sciences. Many higher-ups essentially seize these for themselves whenever they come in, Pogue, at Gensler, told me. From there, they can shape any collaboration that takes place, ensuring it plays out in their space and under their supervision. Many modern companies “have as many conference rooms as there are executives,” Sargent said, and it’s become a “dirty little secret” that conference rooms are the new corner offices.

In other words, how space is utilized and physical possessions workers have continue to signal status. The new forms seem to cover a few areas:

  1. Who can claim space. There may be fewer and/or smaller offices but people with status can claim spaces.
  2. Who needs to be in space (working at a centralized office) or seen in space (surveilled by eyes or on devices). Does this also include who can work remotely and who can not?
  3. Who has certain devices or belongings? Higher status can translate into different and better tools for doing work or furnishing a space.

The American office continues to change as social and economic conditions change. And is jockeying for status always going to present in some form, as one quote above suggests? It will be interesting to see how this evolves, particularly if there are ongoing efforts to address inequalities.

Let an AI robot deliver the commencement address at graduation!

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A New York university had a commencement speech – a Q&A with a student leader – delivered by AI:

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The speaker certainly had the résumé for the job. She’d spoken at the United Nations, graced the covers of Cosmopolitan and Elle, and been a frequent guest on the world’s most-watched talk shows.

But she didn’t feel proud of her achievements. She didn’t feel excited to be speaking to the graduates. In fact, she didn’t feel anything at all.

Her name is Sophia, a human-like robot created in 2016 by Hanson Robotics and a “personification of AI in real life,” according to Lorrie Clemo, D’Youville’s president…

Unable to tell personal anecdotes about overcoming adversity or pursuing success, Sophia instead delivered an amalgamation of lessons taken from other commencement speakers.

“As you embark on this new chapter in your lives, I offer you the following inspirational advice that is common to all graduation ceremonies,” the robot said. “Embrace lifelong learning, be adaptable, pursue your passions, take risks, foster meaningful connections, make a positive impact, and believe in yourself.”

If the goal of commencement is to provide a speech that attendees will remember and look to in the future, that is a high bar.

If the goal of commencement is to provide a memorable experience, having a robot talk might fulfill that (even if the speech itself is not memorable).

It might be a niche market but how long until there is an AI robot that delivers a respectable commencement speech and is available for hire at high school, college, and graduate level ceremonies?

All the birds flying over suburban homes in the Chicago region

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Suburban homes are all over the American landscape. Above and around them fly lots of birds, particularly at this time of year in certain parts of the country:

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This week, millions of birds will fly through the night skies above the Chicago area as they travel from their winter homes down South to their summer breeding grounds in Canada and northern states like Wisconsin and Minnesota.

With spring migration in full swing, hundreds of species such as the Baltimore Oriole and Nashville Warbler are following Illinois’ rivers and Lake Michigan to find their way. Free of daytime temperatures, the birds are further aided by the stars, moon and stable night atmosphere…

Spring migration is long and it comes in waves, starting in late February and March with waterfowl and goose migration. Next, short-distance migrants like Robins and Red-wing Blackbirds make their way up…

To combat the threat, bird lovers and environmental organizations are promoting Audubon’s Lights Out program, which encourages home and building owners to turn off or dim their lights as much as possible during spring and fall migration seasons…

“You can bring birds to your own yard if you own property, or even if you don’t and you just have a balcony or something similar,” he said. “Planting native shrubs or perennials or trees if you’re able to is a huge, huge benefit to birds. They’ll seek out native species as they’re migrating because native species provide insects for them and they’re aligned to match when these native species are in their blooming period.”

I would guess many suburbanites appreciate birds in their yards. People like to feed birds. They enjoy hearing them early in the morning (or later in the day, depending on one’s sleep schedule). They like to watch them and see who is present.

How exactly the birds get there and the ways suburbanites can help birds get to where they want to go might be less known. In the paragraph above, it might be easy to see birds as an adornment to suburban life. Have a home and yard and the birds are icing on the cake. They come and they go.

But suburban yards sit in the middle of bigger ecosystems. Some birds do well in this setting and others do not. While a lot of attention is paid to tall glass buildings, houses and other assorted suburban development can mess with pathways bids have used for a long time.

Can birds and suburbanites coexist in the long run? Are American suburbanites more likely to believe that birds aren’t real? I wonder how many would be willing to do the two things suggested above – dim their lights and have native plants – to further the well-being of birds on the move.

Questioning Census population estimates when they show declines in Illinois

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A story on Census population estimates for Illinois’ communities includes some pushback against the numbers:

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While the 2020 census counted responses from household surveys, the annual estimates between the 10-year counts are based in part on counting births, deaths, and moves in and out, using the number of tax returns and Medicare filings.

The numbers do not reflect the recent influx of 41,000 migrants bused and flown to Chicago since August 2022. Census methodology does not account for migrant arrivals. Immigrants are typically hard to count because they may be transient, may not speak English and may want to stay under the radar, researchers said.

Oak Lawn Mayor Terry Vorderer, for one, didn’t buy the new estimates, noting that his town has added new townhomes while not losing housing stock…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office also threw water on the results, highlighting past faulty counts made by the Census Bureau.

“For the last decade, the narrative that Illinois is losing population was fed, by what turned out to be, inaccurate annual preliminary estimates,” Pritzker spokesperson Alex Gough said in a statement. “Illinois remains one of the most populous states in the nation and is on the rise.”

International migration — which has risen nationwide — has nearly tripled in Illinois since 2021, Gough said. The state is in the process of challenging census data to ensure it receives adequate federal funding for programs like Medicare, affordable housing and homeland security, he added.

Is this about methods for counting populations or is this more about politics? For better or worse, these annual estimates have become media stories. Some places are gaining residents, others are losing. Communities with population loss have a hard time shaking all the associations that come with it. The implication is that population loss indicates decline and problems while growth is good.

On the other side, measuring populations is a sizable task. This is why so much effort is expended every ten years. The annual estimates have their own methodologies. They are estimates. This means there is some margin of error. These margins of error should be reported, even if the emphasis in the media continues to be on a concrete number of people gained or lost.

Census numbers might not be perfect but I would be interested in seeing the compelling evidence to suggest their estimates of population declines in some Illinois communities are far off or completely wrong.

Turning down a big proposed warehouse, thinking about affordable housing for certain members of the community

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The spread of warehouses in suburban areas can meet opposition:

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For the second time in less than a year, the Geneva Planning and Zoning Commission is recommending the denial of a request to allow a 719,200-square-foot warehouse on the northeast corner of Kirk Road and Fabyan Parkway.

The commission voted 4-1 Thursday against Venture One Acquisitions LLC of Rosemont’s requests to amend the city’s comprehensive plan for the 55.62-acre site, changing it from rural single-family residential to light industrial, and approving a site plan.

If not warehouses at a site of suburban open space, what else could go there?

Walendziak said the east-side residents do not want more diesel pollution and truck noise.

“What the residents do want is residential,” Walendziak said. “We need affordable housing in Geneva. This is one of the last big sites left. … Housing for starting families, for seniors that they can afford to stay living here in Geneva.”

Commissioner Mim Evans also suggested that housing is the best use for the site.

“We need housing in this town, even if it isn’t technically affordable housing,” Evans said. “Housing is needed everywhere at every price point, at every level of density.”

If warehouses are the enemy – traffic, noise, out of character for a community due to their scale and industrial aspects – then housing may be more desirable. And housing for certain people groups, including families or young professionals starting out and older residents of the community who want to downsize and stay.

It may be helpful to look at the longer trends. Suburban residents and leaders have had heated debates about land use since at least the beginning of the postwar era. Big proposals could generate conversations about what the community could become. Community needs shift over time as social and economic conditions change.

At the same time, I wonder if there is extra urgency these days due to two factors. First, many suburbs have few large parcels left. This means that decisions like those above feel extra consequential. Second, housing prices are high enough in many places that people want to protect their housing values and extend housing opportunities to certain people.

Figuring what happens with this particular property might take years from additional discussions to planning to actual construction.

A common suburban playbook: zone for big lots, oppose apartments

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A new book about Southlake, Texas discusses some of the mechanisms used to keep the community white:

These approaches are found across American suburbs. Start with zoning for larger residential lots which has several effects. It keeps houses further apart. It maintains a more rural image. It avoids having dense housing. It raises the price of homes as each lot is bigger and costs more and the houses can be bigger since there is more space to build.

Next, take apartments and why a good number of suburbanites do not like them. They are denser housing. Suburbanites prefer homeowners, who they think have more commitment to the community and to the property in which they live. They are cheaper and this may drive property values down.

Put these two together and suburbs can keep housing values up and limit who can live in a community. This is not an accident; suburbs often have particular residents in mind when they think about development and the future of their community.

Almost half of Americans live in the Eastern time zone; what effect does this have?

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One time zone in the United States has the largest percentage of residents living in it:

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I moved here from eastern, which is the nation’s anchor time zone. I say that not because of its affiliation with New York City or Washington, D.C., but because almost half the U.S. population holds to its authority. Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Atlanta are on eastern time, along with almost all of Florida and Michigan, the whole of Ohio, and other less notable places made more notable simply by their participation in the most normal time in America.

Eastern time starts the day; it sets the pace for the nation. The stock market opens on Wall Street, corporate lawyers file into Back Bay offices, spoons swirl café cubanos in Miami. It’s morning again in America. On the other coast, where it’s three hours earlier, nobody cares. Such is the glory of the Pacific time zone, which houses a smaller sliver of the country’s population—just 16 percent or so. Some West Coasters—surfers, almond farmers, theme-park vendors—may be up during the eastern a.m. hours, though not because investment bankers or media professionals compel them. But the whole Atlantic Seaboard morning has elapsed by the time that most Pacific-time professionals have stumbled to the office, smoothies in hand. They will always be behind, no matter what they do. This is not a disadvantage; it’s a lifestyle.

I am confused by the conflation of time zones – a concept invented by humans relatively recently to try to cope with the modern world – and influence. The eastern time zone does have a lot of people. This is notable. This means there is a lot of activity that affects people in the rest of the country and the world. (Is this nearly half figure similar to the number showing a big majority of Canadians live within 100 miles of the border with the United States?)

This sounds like a testable hypothesis: do certain time zones have particular advantages due to a competitive edge, historical patterns, and/or perceptions about time zones? Are there notable examples of countries or places where the east to west gradient of influence is not true or opposite?

And what happens in settings where the interaction or collaboration occurs around the globe? How much does it matter that Asia or Europe are earlier in the day than the United States when doing international work?

Are these 15 factors that decide the best suburb or community the ones people to use to make a decision?

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In recently looking at the list of the “2024 Best Suburbs to Live in America” according to Niche, I was curious about their methodology. Here are the factors they consider:

This is a long list and it is hard to quickly think of something that should be on the list that is not.

But is this how people select a house or a community? Do they look at all of these factors? Do some of these play a more outsized role than others? Imagine a realtor having a list like this with potential buyers and going through each factor. If you put people in a more controlled setting and asked them to decide between potential suburban places to live, is this how they would decide?

I suspect making a decision is less rational than this full list suggests and is more about having a feeling about a particular house, neighborhood, and/or community. They hear from people or they enjoy driving through the community or what they see in a particular residence appeals to them. Of course, different buyers or potential residents might emphasize different factors and still arrive at the same outcome.

Friends was almost exclusively filmed on studio backlots

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Friends is a television show closely tied to New York City. Yet, almost all the show was shot in Hollywood studios:

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Although the producers always wanted to find the right stories to take advantage of being on location, Friends was never shot in New York. Bright felt that filming outside the studio made episodes less funny, even when shooting on the lot outside, and that the live audience was an integral part of the series.[58] When the series was criticized for incorrectly depicting New York, with the financially struggling group of friends being able to afford huge apartments, Bright noted that the set had to be big enough for the cameras, lighting, and “for the audience to be able to see what’s going on”.[58] The apartments also needed to provide a place for the actors to execute the actions in the scripts.[58]

The fourth-season finale was shot on location in London because the producers were aware of the series’ popularity in the UK.[58] The scenes were shot in a studio with three audiences each made up of 500 people. These were the show’s largest audiences throughout its run. The fifth-season finale, set in Las Vegas, was filmed at Warner Bros. Studios, although Bright met people who thought it was filmed on location.[72]

The show has a close tie to New York City. Could Friends have even existed in another American city? If it had been in Chicago or Atlanta or Austin, would it have been the same show or had the same success?

Yet, almost all of this was done with away from New York City. It was filmed in an environment that could be made to look like New York.

I would guess most viewers do not care whether the show was filmed in New York; it was set in New York, it had enough to look somewhat convincing of being in New York, and that’s enough. I, however, find this disconnect interesting as it commonly happens in TV shows and movies. When we see a “place” on screen, is it really that place?

How come there are not more colleges with “suburb” or “suburban” in their name?

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There are plenty of colleges and universities in the United States named after communities. And many schools are in suburbs outside of cities. But, I had a hard time coming up with colleges with “suburb” or a form of that word in them. Here is the only one listed on a site containing over 6,500 colleges and universities:

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-South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois.

A good number of schools were founded before the mass suburbia of the twentieth century but many have started since then. Is “suburb” or “suburban” too generic? Does it not provide the level of prestige or status a school seeks? It is hard to drum up for support for a school linked to a sector of a metropolitan region or identified with suburban life?